2.10.08

Pictures from schooool! Erm...the cabin!

Yay! Picture time! First, a brief update. And I'm serious when I say "brief". Thank God it's Thursday!!!! I love Thursday. It means it's almost Friday and all my hard work for classes is FINISHED! Wednesday nights are usually hell, though, so when I wake up in the morning, I feel so much better. Even if it is at 7am.

Eric printed me out an absentee ballot! Denise stopped in his room the other night to drop off his vacuum (because we all share it), and she had him print one out for her. She told me to have him print one out for me, too, but she warned that I might have to promise him that I'd be writing in Ron Paul. haha. So I asked him if he could print one out for me and he said, "Nope." Then I said, "I'm considering writing in Ron Paul." Then he said, "Alright." I met him in one of his classrooms to get it from him and as he was handing it to me he said, "Now you HAVE to write in Ron Paul. If you don't, I will rip up your ballot. I'm serious. Ron Paul." hahaha. But I really have no idea who I want to vote for.

Anywho, here are the pictures from the cabin weekend!!!

Our mode of transportation: Jordan's Jeep Wrangler!

Everyone was already starting to get a little annoyed with my picture taking...

Our faithful driver...

Man, we were "packed in like sardines", according to one commentator's opinion (lol, Cassie!)

Yay! We made it! It was dark! And rainy!

I stole some pictures from Denise. This is one of them...

I found a dead bat inside. It was still stuck to the wall. And stiff. And tiny!

We used oil lamps! Pretty!

Next morning was picture taking time, since it was sort of bright out. Here's the outside of the cabin...

And from the back...

And on the inside...

There was a ring game! Since the only electricity was by gas generator, this was pretty much our online form of entertainment besides reading...

A better view of the inside...

The loft...

Denise played the game, too!

Eric fetching water for the toilet! Again, no electricity and no running water. It was awesome.

The view first thing the next morning...

Not sure why I was making this face, but I was looking through National Geographic Magazines!

Um...again...don't know what's with my weird faces or who was taking these pictures...

It started to clear up a little, so I went out to take more pictures with Denise.

A bird house! tehe...

Hi, Denise!

Proof that Eric does his homework! Look at him being all studious. And Melissa's reading a National Geographic. "'P-a-l-e-o-n-t-o-l-o-g-y'...hey Al, that's what you do, right?" Oh my God, Melissa, REALLY?! hahaha.

Oooo, creepy forest!!!

Then it cleared up even more and the decision was made to get ready to go for a hike! ...After breakfast!

So while Jordan cooked breakfast, I took some more pictures!

Denise made fun of me for taking close-up nature pictures. :(

But I was damned serious about it...

Nah, it was fun...

Some of my work. This is a close up on moss!

And an abandoned snail shell!

And holly!

And mountains of moss!

Meanwhile, back inside, Eric continued laboriously to do homework! Melissa was considering playing the drums...

A brief time to let our yummy breakfast settle before our walk.

Filling up the buckets for the toilet...with water.

Yea! Lookit me go!

Haha, a little wooden sword Jordan made when he was a kid. He never goes on a walk in the woods without it...

Yay! We're finally off!!!!

It was wet...and rainy...

I got in touch with my inner tree hugger.

And got a little dirty and wet.

Melissa ran out into this clearing. Then Jordan said that he saw a bear once in there and it freaked Melissa out.

Jordan had to reassure her that the bears wouldn't come her...

I wanted a pretty pictures of the clearing, too..

Then we came across another small clearing...dun dun dun. It was Jordan's uncle's cabin! And there was a swing!!!!

Then Melissa went first on the swing!!!

Yay! Melissa swinging!!!

Then it was my turn! Eric pulled me too fast... :(

Then I got to try to pull Eric. Um. It didn't work.

Watch my feeble attempt here.

So Jordan had to take over.

He also failed.

Oh, who's turn is it now?

Jordan's!

Watch out for the treeeee!!!!

Hahaha, Melissa fell trying to sit on the swing then.

Eric found a really old looking shotgun in Jordan's uncle's cabin!

We headed off again. And I began playing "Find Alli".

ooooh, where am I??

I tried to get a pretty picture of the spider web, but Eric got in the way. And he also threatened to destroy it.

I was green and got most of African plus the Middle East and Afghanistan. I was screwed. And lost. Quickly.

Denise was read and built up her armies in Australia, Indonesia, and Madagascar, eventually conquering everyone completely and thoroughly without remorse.

Eric was really angry that was a better dice roller than he is.

Denise began her attack and swept through Africa. Here is my last stand. Pitiful.

Much to Eric's extreme, irate, and overly exaggerated competitive spirit, Denise swept South America right out from under his nose.

Then she turned on Europe. Eric then turned on his alliance with Jordan and swept through Europe to stop Denise at her own game.

Poor Jordan, with his alliance broken, he barely stood a chance. At least he put up a better fight than I did, though.

Eric's last stand in Japan. He wasn't going down without a full out brawl. But Denise eventually conquered. Eric was sooo angry. It was hysterical.

Then Jordan cooked us dinner!

Yummy chicken!!!

Melissa accidentally got her hair in the chicken juice. It was funny. She was embarrassed.

Ah, dinner by oil lamp light...

After dinner, we settled in for some general lying around and reading.

Or homework.

Or general boredom. And when Jordan and Eric are bored in the woods, what's the most fun thing for them to do?

Why make a fire of course! Yes, it rained all weekend long and everything was soaking wet. But Jordan taught us all an amazing thing. Birch bark has so much oils in it that it will even burn when wet! woop woop!

And burn it did!

S'mores for everyone!!!!!

Then Jordan got sleepy. But we weren't! We wanted to...um...not sleep!

Wake up Jordan!!!!!!!!

Alright, so...can't think of anything to do, so I read some more of my homework.

Melissa and Eric had a Foosball competition.

It was pretty intense.

Then everyone was still bored. And you know what Eric and Jordan decided to do this time? It has something to do with that incense bottle. And a match.

Blow on it a little to get it going...

Lots of smoke...

BAM! FIREWORKS!

Or I guess they're called bottle rockets?

And that was that. The next morning we ate some cereal, cleaned up, and went back to school. It was a fun weekend. Next update shall be from Oktoberfest! Which is what we did this weekend!!! yay!!!

Hear what Alli has to say!

I completed my Master's in Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2013 and participated in a 5-month program in Israel for conservation and cultural heritage. Now I'm living in the San Francisco Bay Area in eBook distribution and spending some time with family I haven't seen in a while.

My updates will be about the exciting new adventures of living in California!

A few of my favorite quotes:

Archaeologists will date anything.

you must above all things be glad and young...(e.e. cummings)

When each day is the same as the next, it's because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises. (The Alchemist)